Hyperion Records

Most impressive of Haydn’s early sonatas is the four-movement G major, No 6. The opening movement deploys a diverse array of galant clichés with a confident swagger, while the final Allegro molto, spiced by irregular phrase lengths, shares the drive and dash of Haydn’s early symphony finales. There is a Baroque flavour to the trio of the minuet, with its chromatically falling bass (a traditional symbol of lamentation), and to the G minor Adagio, in which the right hand spins an expressive arioso over a steadily reiterated quaver pulse.

from notes by Richard Wigmore © 2012